If you have a years-old traffic ticket that you haven’t been able to pay off because it’s been too expensive, there may be an option for you to whittle that cost down — but you have to act quickly.
A traffic ticket amnesty program that started a year and a half ago can help people to reduce their qualifying traffic and non-traffic citations by 50 or 80 percent, and to get their driver’s licenses reinstated. However, the program is set to expire Monday, April 3.
Not paying traffic fines can result in an extra fee being added to your original fine amount. These are called civil assessments and can be up to $300, according to the California Courts website. Those who don’t pay their fines also risk having their licenses suspended.
The amnesty program was designed to help people get out of such situations. Since it took effect in October 2015, the program has helped reduce more than 200,000 delinquent accounts statewide while collecting more than $35 million in revenue, and has gotten almost 200,000 licenses reinstated, according to data through Dec. 31.
People who had to pay for traffic citations or related “failure to appear” violations on or before January 2013, but hadn’t made a payment as of Sept. 30, 2015 or later, are eligible for the program.
The program does not cover parking tickets or violations involving reckless driving and driving under the influence. People may not be eligible to have their citations reduced if they still have to pay victim restitution in a case, or have an outstanding misdemeanor or felony arrest warrant in the same county where they got the citation.
People who can certify that they make 125 percent or less than the federal poverty level are eligible for the 80 percent reduction, while everyone else is eligible for the 50 percent reduction.
To participate in the program, a person must contact the court in the county in which they received the citation, said Blaine Corren, a spokesman for the Judicial Council of California. The process for applying varies from county to county.
